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Friday, August 21, 2009

THE SPIDER VS. THE EMPIRE STATE!

THE SPIDER VS. THE EMPIRE STATE!

While I am far from a pulp expert, I am a pulp aficionado. I was aware of the adventures of the character known as The Spider, but had never been drawn to immerse myself in Norvell Page’s tales. I had no idea I was missing out on a great character and great tales!

Anyway, how could you resist the brilliant packaging for The Spider vs. The Empire State, the latest pulp reprint offering from the good folks at Age of Aces? And while I am more familiar with their regular blend of Air Ace pulp stories, their love of the pulps is clear in this meticulously compiled collection.

I’ll get to the stories themselves in a moment, but starting with the stunning Chris Kalb cover, which invokes the flavor of the iconic V for Vendetta, the package gets off to a great start.

The promise of the cover begins to be immediately fulfilled with the well researched and authoritative introduction by PEAPS member Tom Krabacher. The placing of the trinity of Spider stories, known collectively as the Black Police Trilogy, within the historical context of when they were written adds immensely to their enjoyment.

It also points out their importance . . .

What? Importance in the pulps? You bet. Like any other style of writing, when it is done with a passion for ideas and justice, pulp writing can be as important as any literary diatribe.

Here the trilogy of tales featuring The Spider taking on his greatest foe – an American police state – whips along at breakneck speed while exploring a hot topic issue of the day, which could have easily come true.

THEY SAID IT COULDN'T HAPPEN HERE. THEN THEY SAID ONE MAN COULDN'T STOP IT!

Richard Wentworth spent his vigilante career as The Spider always in the shadows. Now evil acted in broad daylight. The Party of Justice swept into office, rewriting the laws of New York state overnight to benefit their criminal backers and make slaves of its people.

This American Reichstag gave itself sweeping powers and raised a private army to exert its malevolent will. How could The Spider hope to stop a criminal conspiracy as big as the state itself?

This time The Master of Men would go beyond taking the lives of evildoers... by bringing Hope to the tyrannized citizens of the Empire State!

The "Black Police Trilogy" is author Norvell Page's classic pulp fiction Nazi allegory from 1938. Originally introduced 71 years ago this week in three consecutive months of The Spider Magazine, the novels "The City That Paid To Die", "The Spider at Bay", and "Scourge of the Black Legions" are collected in book form for the first time.

Often the hype used to push the pulps was sadly lacking between the actual pages, but The Spider vs. The Empire State is the real deal. The illustrations throughout the collection are clearly reproduced and the follow up info provided as an unofficial appendix finishes the package with a flourish.